“That long?” asked Maddox.
“No, no,” Ludendorff said. “In this, we have gotten lucky. Eight days is nothing.”
“Not if the Visionary is still looking for us and shows up in force,” Maddox said.
“Then let us hope she doesn’t arrive within the next eight days,” Ludendorff said.
-41-
The days passed quickly as Ludendorff, Andros and Galyan built a photon convertor for the starship’s engine room. Ludendorff explained it to Maddox as the captain looked in on what they did.
The convertor area was beside the main engine compartments. Huge domelike machines glowed as photonic pulses struck the inner surface, causing the area to glow brighter.
“The photons are bouncing in there like billiard balls,” Ludendorff said. “In reality, the domes will act like batteries in the null region.” The professor thought about what he’d said. “We hope they act like batteries. I can’t promise you they’ll work.”
“If they don’t,” Maddox asked, “how will we power the tractor beam?”
Ludendorff shook his head. “We won’t.”
“Then, the voyage will have been for naught.”
“Yes,” Ludendorff agreed.
“Let’s hope your miraculous batteries work then.”
“I quite agree, Captain. Now, unless there something else you need, I must get back to work.”
Maddox indicated the professor should go. He watched them toil for a time. Finally, the captain took his leave.
***
Two days later, Maddox sat in his quarters. He’d decided to make his final decision on the photon suits. They were bulky and unwieldy, but they might allow a person to think and act normally while in the null region. Ludendorff, Andros and he would each use a suit. The last suit was where Maddox had a hard time deciding. He could give one to Dana or Valerie.
Dana understood more and had a quick mind. Yet, she’d undergone excessive mental trauma lately. Maybe the added stress would be too much for her. Valerie had shown herself to be clever, with practical solutions to tough problems.
The hatch opened and Meta came in. “Oh,” she said. “Am I disturbing you?”
“No, no,” Maddox said. He turned his chair and sat back. “I’m having trouble making my last choice for the photon suit.” He gave Meta his reasoning for the two choices.
“I think you’re forgetting something critical,” Meta said.
Maddox raised his eyebrows.
“Each has excellent qualities. But that isn’t the issue. What kind of judgment will they have while drugged?”
Maddox’s eyes brightened. “That’s an excellent point.” He turned back to his desk, staring at the names. Thus, he didn’t hear Meta leave.
How would Dana or Valerie act while drugged? He needed the one who could do her job while heavily under the influence.
“I’ve forgotten one other person.” Maddox wrote Keith onto the paper.
He might need the best pilot in the best possible shape in order to pull this off. Keith was the best pilot, and he used to be a drunkard. As a drunkard, Keith must have learned how to act semi-normally while deeply under the influence. He might act the most normally while under the happy pill, if experience could help a person cope while drugged.
Maddox stared at the names for a long moment before finally picking up his pen and circling Keith’s name. The captain had chosen the fourth member of the null region team.
***
Given the latest insight, Maddox had Dana test each of them. She injected them with the drug and gave them problems to solve to determine what they could or could not do.
“I’m not sure I agree with your method,” the professor told Maddox later.
They were in a testing area. It looked more like a child’s playpen with mats, balls, giant building cubes and other items.
Maddox waited. His head still ached after having taken the drug.
“The point of the drug is to dull the person to the Ska,” Ludendorff said. “If a person becomes too used to the drug, that might weaken his protection against the telepathic attacks.”
“I have to know if a person can function while drugged,” Maddox said.
“I realize that—”
“And we have to learn to act while drugged.”
“Yes, yes,” the professor said. “I don’t need you to explain the situation. I’m simply saying there is a risk to your ‘training’, if we can call it that.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Not yet,” Ludendorff hedged.
Maddox said no more, and finally Ludendorff took his leave.
-42-
The selected terrestrial planet swung around the cool star. As it did so, its biggest moon orbited in a highly elliptical manner. Finally, the system bodies aligned as closely as they were going to.
Lieutenant Noonan fed the coordinates into the flight computer. Galyan over-watched the process, correcting small anomalies.
Maddox sat in his command chair. A team of technicians waited with his photon suit.
“This won’t be exact,” Valerie said. “But it’s the best we can do, sir.”
Maddox felt jittery. He did not often feel this way. They were picking up the dice of fate. He could almost feel them rattling in his cupped hands.
Keith looked back at Maddox.
The captain felt the pressure build in his chest. Did humanity’s fate rest on today’s actions? If they failed to drag out at least one Destroyer, did that mean the Alliance Fleet would succumb to the incredible Swarm masses?
Why else are we doing this? Maddox asked himself.
“Let’s get started, Lieutenant,” he told Keith.
The Scotsman stood and turned to his bulky suit. It was golden colored with a massive square pack on the back. Tubes ran everywhere. The helmet was extra bulky, making it even heavier.
Maddox turned to his own photon suit. Techs opened seals, leaning the suit toward him.
“Sir,” Galyan said. “I have just detected cloaked vessels.”
“Where?” Maddox asked.
“At the distant edge of the star system,” Galyan said.
“Can you tell their—?”
“They are Spacer craft,” Galyan said. “I am detecting more of them. Sir, I believe they are the Visionary’s ships.”
Maddox studied the main screen, finally shaking his head. “Let’s hope she’s too late to do anything. Are you ready, Valerie?”
“Give the word, sir,” she said.
“Start whenever you’re ready,” he said.
Valerie sat poised at her panel. The backup pilot sat at Keith’s vacated spot.
While that happened, Maddox shoved his feet into the photon suit. He put his arms in next. The techs began to seal up the suit.
Maddox watched as they sealed up Keith. “Can you hear me, Lieutenant?”
“Loud and clear, sir,” Keith said.
As they suited up and tested the comm units, Valerie, the pilot and Galyan used the tractor beam, locking onto the lunar surface.
“Now,” Valerie said as she watched her panel, “turn on the star drive and wait. We’ll attempt to jump out of here at the same coordinates as before.”
Starship Victory began to strain, the jump process interrupted by the tractor beam.
“We’re building up jump power,” Valerie shouted.
At that moment, a saucer-shaped vessel appeared. Likely, it had used its own star drive to jump from the edge of the system to this point. Five more of the saucer-shaped vessels appeared after the first, one after another.
“Keep her steady,” Valerie said.
“The Spacer ships are powering up their weapons,” Galyan said. “They have targeted us.”
“Steady,” Valerie said. “We still have—”
The first Spacer beam struck the shield. The second Spacer vessel also opened fire.
“We must cut the tractor beam,” Galyan said. “We are motionless, the perfect target.”
“Wait,” Valerie said. “We’re not ready yet.”
The other Spacer ships began firing. In unison, their beams struck the main shield. It turned red and began to go brown.
“They are powering up all their weapons,” Galyan said. “I am cutting the tractor beam.”
“It’s too soon,” Valerie said, as her hands flew over her panel. “I’m overriding you, Galyan.”
“You are not, Valerie. This is for the best. I cannot allow Victory’s destruction. I have—”
At that moment, as the Spacer beams turned the shield a deep brown color, the tractor beam snapped off. With the built up energy, the ancient Adok starship jumped.
-43-
Maddox stood on the bridge of Starship Victory. With the movement of his chin, he began the “happy-pill” process. Hypos hissed inside the photon suit and a cool feeling swept over his mind.
Around him on the bridge, the others slumped over. The lights dimmed, but they did not go out completely. Unlike last time, the main screen still worked. The captain stared at a vast expanse of darkness.
He laughed as the drug took hold of his emotions. Despite the Spacer interference at the last moment, the ancient Adok starship had slipped into the null region.
Maddox heard laughter over his helmet speakers. It took him time to understand. Finally, he turned slowly in the bulky photon suit. Keith Maker used his photon-suited gloved hands to lean against the piloting board. The second pilot lay on the floor, unconscious, while Keith laughed like a moron.
Maddox cleared his throat. He was going to admonish the ace for…for…Maddox smiled hugely. He felt good, better than he had for a long time. If he just stayed here…
A thought intruded. He needed to do something.
A dim holoimage stood before him, waving its ropy arms.
With his chin, Maddox opened the helmet’s audio receiver.
“Captain Maddox?” Galyan asked.
“Yes…?” Maddox asked in a slow voice.
“You are drugged, sir. You are not thinking clearly.”
That came as somewhat of a shock to Maddox. He was the world’s clearest thinker. To imply… “Oh,” the captain said, vaguely understanding what Galyan was saying. They had tested—
Maddox’s will began to assert itself. It strove against the pleasant feelings of his contentedness. Keith was still laughing uncontrollably.
“We are farther from the brightness than last time,” Galyan said.
Maddox forced himself to focus on the main screen. Yes, he could see a pin-dot of light in the darkness.
“I am detecting a mass, Captain,” Galyan said. “I do believe I have found one of the Destroyers. Would you like me to pilot the ship there?”
“Yes,” Maddox managed to say.
“It has begun,” Galyan said. “May I say, sir, that I feel more energized than last time. The photon batteries are working, but we are draining them at a prodigious rate.”
Maddox stared at the talking hologram. It really could babble on and on.
“Would you like me to power down unnecessary systems?” the AI asked.
“Yes,” Maddox said.
“They are powering down, sir,” Galyan said. “That should give us two to three times as much time as otherwise.”
Maddox blinked, trying to process that.
“I believe this is working, sir,” Galyan said.
Maddox still blinked, listening to Keith’s moronic laughter, wondering if maybe he should join in. The crazy laughter sounded like fun.
***
The Elder Ska sluggishly began to realize that he was not alone. He had divided, and that had given him youthful zest and energy for a time. What he’d forgotten, though, was a split Ska needed time later to rest and recuperate. The Elder was finding it difficult to keep his awareness up.
He struggled to understand. This was interesting. The warm life forms came in a strangely energized vessel. How were they doing that? It was a miraculous technology.
“I must feed,” the Elder Ska told himself. If he could move fast enough, he might roll onto the energized ship and feed off their induced terror.
Thirst and hunger began to accelerate the process of his awakening. The Elder Ska lusted to feed. He had not fed for eons, and had now become a shriveled weak thing compared to his former glory.
The Ska propelled himself toward the energized ship. He quickly discovered a problem. The vessel moved faster than he could. No matter how much he strove, they had the advantage. That galled and maddened the Elder. After all this time, after all—what was this? More hard material ships began to pop into existence in the null region. They were saucer-shaped vessels—and they held warm entities. Not only that, but the ships possessed almost no energy and little speed.
If the Elder Ska was capable of laughter, he would have chortled now. This was an amazing piece of luck. The saucer-shaped hard material objects popped into existence like food sacs, here to energize him.
The Elder Ska did not believe in a Creator, in anything greater than himself. He knew that he was self-made, evolved throughout the ages into this perfection of being. Nothing was superior to him. This was merely one of those fortunate accidents of life that helped instead of hurt.
The Elder Ska swerved aside from the energized ship. He headed for the saucer-shaped vessels, lusting to feast on terrified entities so he could warm himself with their emotions.
***
The Visionary tottered from her throne. She’d given the order to follow the desperado Captain Maddox. He’d caused the death of her son. He tried to free the Ska. She was willing to sacrifice herself to stop him. That included doing the same trick they had caught on the recorders.
Thus, she had been the first to pop into this strange realm. Because of their modifications, more Spacers remained awake than among the crew aboard Victory.
The Visionary turned suddenly. She felt something. The Visionary straightened and stood frozen in that position. She saw others on the bridge do the same. At that moment, something dripping with evil invaded her mind. The dark thing played on her worst fears.
“No, no, please…” the Visionary moaned. In her imagination, she saw wicked things that twisted her stomach with revulsion and terror.
“No!” she howled. “Stop! Stay out of my mind!”
The others awake on the bridge likewise began to shriek in unholy terror. Two curled up into fetal balls.
The Visionary began to tremble as she chewed on her lips. The dark visions burning through her thoughts became even more ghastly. She threw her head back, and her throat fully unlocked. At that point, the Visionary howled like a demented soul.
***
The Elder Ska boiled through the first Spacer ship like an alligator spinning over and over again as it tore off hunks of flesh from a drowned carcass. He warmed himself by their terror. It felt so glorious to heat up, to absorb what he needed to sustain his life force. This was grand. This was unbelievable.
He chomped, as it were, in fierce gluttony. Maybe he should have savored the creatures given to him like this. Instead, he increased the power of his telepathic invasion, inducing shock and death in some of the cases. He wasn’t worried at the moment. He was going to tear through each morsel and energize himself. Then, he would deal with the fast, energized, hard material object over there and devour all of them one by one as well.
-44-
A strange lassitude had gripped the four photon-suited individuals aboard Starship Victory. Keith no longer laughed and Captain Maddox no longer contemplated his existence. Instead, Keith sat at his piloting board, staring ahead like a man in a trance.
Maddox sat in his command chair, looking at the viewing screen and the slowly growing Destroyer.
The brightness in the distance had grown from a pin-dot size to that of an eraser on the end of an old-fashioned pencil.
The main hatch to the bridge opened, and a photon-suited individual staggered through. No one turned to greet the newcomer. Maddox and
Keith remained in their statuesque poses.
“Galyan,” said Andros Crank.
The holoimage no longer appeared like a real person. He had his former shape, but he’d faded considerably. In places, one could even see through his “body.”
The holoimage turned. “Hello, Andros.”
“Are you…” Andros stumbled against a station, sitting down. For some reason, the Chief Technician found that funny. Andros didn’t burst into moronic laughter, but a fit of the giggles instead.
If Galyan could have rolled his Adok eyes, this would have been the moment. He turned back to the main screen.
“We have a visitor on the bridge, Captain,” Galyan said.
Maddox used his feet to slowly turn his chair until he faced Andros. He grinned in a loopy manner inside his bulky helmet.
“It’s…there,” Andros said, pointing at the main screen.
Maddox continued grinning.
A red light began to blink on a board. No one seemed to notice at first, not even Galyan.
Andros’s giggles changed pitch.
That caused Maddox to tilt his helmet. “What is it?” he asked, with a note of laughter in his voice.
“The blinking light,” Andros giggled. “It’s…funny.”
Maddox’s helmet turned so he could take in the blinking light. That meant something, something that wasn’t funny. With an effort of will, Maddox pushed himself to his feet. He did not stagger, although he did walk slowly. Finally, he leaned his gloved hands against the board and examined the blinking light.
“What’s that?” he said.
No one answered.
“Galyan,” Maddox said. “What’s this light mean?”
The holoimage floated to the station. “Shall I change the screen’s images, sir?”
Maddox couldn’t figure that one out. So, he just nodded.
The images on the main screen changed. The bright light in the distance and the inert Destroyer vanished. In their place appeared—
Maddox’s head swayed back. Those looked like Spacer vessels.
Galyan announced them as Spacers a second later.
It took an effort on the captain’s part. A deeper part of him believed they’d received too strong a dose of the happy-pill. He could hardly think straight.
The Lost Earth (Lost Starship Series Book 7) Page 17